Child Support and Maintenance Support Laws

The child support and maintenance support laws in South Africa are pretty simple. If the father has custody of the children, then it is the duty of the mother to pay child support, and if the mother is the one with custody, then the father has to pay. If any parent is unemployed, they have to go out and find work so that they can start paying maintenance; they cannot just sit back and let one parent provide everything while they do nothing, it does not work that way. Divorce, separation, whatever it is that the parents are going through shouldn’t have an effect on the wellbeing of their children.

If the children were born out of wedlock the child support and maintenence support laws do not change, but the guardianship will be given to the parent who is financially, emotionally, physically and mentally more stable than the other. The parent who is not given custody will receive visitation rights unless the court has very good reasons to not let the children see one of their parents at all. The laws in South Africa are fair; it doesn’t matter whether your children were born out of wedlock or if you were married but are now going through a divorce or even if you weren’t dating when your child was conceived, you are still responsible for them.

If you cannot agree on your own when it comes to visitation rights, you may get an attorney and take the matter to court where a judge will decide what is fair. The judge will look at the entire case and take everything into consideration before making a decision regarding the parent that does not have guardianship. The child support and maintenance support laws in this country are simple and sticking to them is what every parent should do at all times.